president obama will travel there to take part in events to honor his life. the country is planning a public memorial on tuesday. his burial takes place the following sunday. several memorial events are planned here in washington, including an official service next week at the national cathedral. shomari stone joins us live from the south african embassy in northwest washington with the latest from there. >> reporter: good evening. right now, i'm standing outside the embassy and i'm in front of the ten-foot statue of nelson mandela unveiled two months ago. let me move out the way. it continues to grow with the flowers and a lot of folks tell me they are concerned a lot of people aren't coming tonight due to the weather. it's worth mentioning folks are honoring the iconic life of nelson mandela. >> it's a -- gosh, i want to say a happy sad. >> reporter: she has mixed emotions at the south african embassy over the death of mandela. he died at 95 years old. >> i don't think he would want us to be sad, you know, he lived a full life. a great life. he was a wonder